Davids Medienkritik quotes herean interview with Germany’s conservative WELT, a blistering attack on French and German diplomacy (translation by Harmut Lau):
History Will Prove Berlin And Paris Wrong
The American visionary Perle thinks that they were wrong when Reagan won the Cold War and they’re mistaken about BushDIE WELT: (…) [I]s there a new thaw in transatlantic relations?
Richard Perle: I’m very skeptical about the Europeans’ – and when I say that I mean the Germans and the French – being prepared for a new beginning. Certain circles in these countries don’t want US policies in Iraq to be successful. And, whether or not they supported the war, that is not the case with the rest of Europe.
Q: Did the election in Iraq legitimize Bush’s foreign policy of “transformation” even though no weapons of mass destruction were found?
A: Absolutely. We’ll look back and see the liberation of Iraq and the establishment of a freely elected government that respects human rights as a turning point in history. Today’s German and French position reminds me of their attitude toward Ronald Reagan’s policies to end the Cold War. They were terribly short sighted and lost sight of the big picture. The French and Germans were above all, as we said, appalled. History has proven them wrong then and will do it again. Their underestimating Bush and hostility toward is as wrong today as their attitude toward Reagan was wrong then. …
Q: So the Europeans’ negotiations with Iran are a complete waste of time?
A: Well, I suppose we must go through those phases so people will recognize that it won’t be easy. I have my doubts about the negotiations leading to anything because you cannot trust the Iranians. In point of fact it seems to me pretty obvious that the regime wants the bomb and nobody will talk them out of it. It’s only a matter of time before the Germans and French accuse the Americans of being at fault for the Iranian’s refusal to yield. They’ll say, “You ruined the pretty little treaty we almost had completely negotiated.”
Q: Sounds familiar…
A: We’re seeing the same issue that split on the Iraq war. Europe doesn’t perceive Iran as a threat, and the US does. The Europeans are not as threatened by Iranian nuclear weapons as are the Americans and they aren’t as threatened by the terrorism that Iran sponsors. If the only way to keep the Iranians from getting a nuclear weapon is military action against Iranian production facilities, then the US must undertake that action.
…western “allies” as France, Germany, and Belgium say it is not fair that we are successful – that we don’t emulate their inefficient, socialist economies.
The war in Iraq is the focal point for worldwide America-bashing. But lest anyone suppose that pure, unselfish humanitarianism is at work here, the author of the new book, “Hating America” believes (for example) that the U.S. action in Iraq derailed a cozy deal to turn Saddam Hussein’s Iraq into “France’s Saudi Arabia.”
Gibson says the foreign policy differences with the U.S. are real, but they serve as a cover for other nations to vent their frustration with the United States because it is prosperous, successful, and powerful.
Extending the olive branch of peace in public is more respectable than bluntly stating the real No. 1 reason for anti-Americanism: Envy – or saying out loud, “We hate you because you’re successful, and we’re not. And we can’t stand it.”
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Still down, but not out
Today’s Dose of NIF